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NOW hits home with health care
By Maria Armental, Daily Record,
November 9, 2003
RANDOLPH -- The National Organization for Women will be pushing to make universal health insurance a key issue in next year's presidential election and in races around the country.
"It's an important issue and something that we need to educate ourselves on so that we can educate the public," said Veronica Guarraia, one of the attendees to NOW-NJ's Annual State Conference.
About 20 people attended the conference Saturday that was hosted by the Morris County chapter and held at the County College of Morris.
"It's not diamonds but a universal health system that is a girl's best friend," said Jenny Brown, coordinator of the Women's Liberation Task Force on National Health Care.
NOW members said they plan over the next year to debunk the myths that the United States has the best health care system in the world, the highest standard of living, and that American women are the most liberated in the world.
The speakers compared the U.S. health system with those of other countries around the world, ranked higher in terms of health care quality by the World Health Organization.
The U.S. was 37th in that ranking.
"So, France is ranked number one, and the U.S. is 37; but here we are paying the most. It hurts," said Candi Churchill, Universal Health Care chair of the Gainesville Area NOW.
Martha Livingston, associate professor of health and society at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, warned that the ranking did not take into consideration the wide economic differences among those countries. If that were the case, she said, Cuba, ranked 39 on the list of 40, would be much higher than the U.S.
Currently, the U.S. spends approximately 14 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP) on healthcare, compared to 9 percent in Canada and 6 percent in the United Kingdom.
"We spend close to $1.5 trillion (a year) in healthcare. That's one-seventh of our economy," Livingston said.
"One dollar out of $7 that we spend in the United States is related to health care. That's an extraordinary amount of money," she said.
"That's the paradox in the U.S. system," Livingston said. "We pay much more … and we get far less."
And yet, she said, 43 million Americans are uninsured according to official statistics. An additional 10 million Americans are temporarily uninsured and 10 million more are underinsured, she said.
"You know those hospital gowns that cover everything but the most important things? That's what underinsurance does. It covers everything but what you have," Livingston said.
Livingston criticized the American system for spending too much money on administrative costs and too little in patients' care.
"It costs them about $4.98 to bill us for that 2-cent Tylenol. So, we end up spending about 30 percent of our dollars in billing patients," she said.
"We have to demand that the obscene profits in this system actually be used to provide health care," Livingston added.
In other countries, workers enjoy longer maternity leaves, free health care, and even state subsidies to help offset the expense of raising a child.
For instance, in Hungary parents receive a 24-week paid parental leave, four weeks before the baby is born and 20 after the birth; in the Czech Republic, workers enjoy a 28-week leave, or 37 weeks for single mothers and multiple births; and in Canada, workers can take eight weeks off before the birth and 17 more after the birth, collecting their full paycheck.
"We are really missing out in terms of what other people have in terms of economic, social support," Brown said. "And we are told we have it so much better in America."
"The more I hear what they have in other countries, the angrier I get," she added.
Securing universal health insurance, they said, would be the first step toward leveling the playing field between men and women.
Brown said the current health system restricts women as they depend on their employer or husband to provide for their health coverage. In addition, because women typically get paid less than their husbands, they are often the ones who have to leave work to care for children or a sick relative.
"In a way, our health insurance system puts women in a trap," Brown said.
"And the long-term care situation is just a disaster for us," she added.
The Women's Liberation Taskforce on National Health Care led a successful campaign in the 2000 elections in Alachua County, Fla., where 65 percent of the voters approved a referendum backing universal health insurance. NOW is currently focusing on the 2004 presidential elections.
"A victory in one state would … help push the momentum for universal health care," Churchill said, referring to Canada as an example.
The universal health system in Canada started in the Saskatchewan province in 1962. Since then, it has expanded to all the Canadian provinces and territories.
NOW proposes an arrangement similar to U.S. Medicare but wants a program that would cover everyone.
"That doesn't mean the government is providing the health care," Livingston said. "They are not even running it. That means they are paying the bills."
Maria Armental can be reached at marmenta@gannett.com or (973) 428-6610. |
